


Protostar - After All This Time

by Xyriath



Series: Protostar [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Getting Together, M/M, Miscommunication, Post-Season/Series 07
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:09:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26571964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xyriath/pseuds/Xyriath
Summary: I love you.Keith goes still, and despite his exhaustion, Shiro takes the chance to reach up and cup his face.“Always have,” he murmurs, then pulls him down to press a kiss to his lips.  It’s just like every other time he’s imagined it, Keith’s lips warm under his—though this time, more chapped than usual.Keith’s lips freeze, and then he yanks away, eyes wide as he stares at Shiro.“What?”
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Series: Protostar [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1932670
Comments: 2
Kudos: 70





	Protostar - After All This Time

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote for a zine and never published... whoops here you go!

Sendak is dead.

It had happened so quickly. Shiro’s mind still refuses to process it fully. Even seeing the body lying there, unmoving, purple blood pooling in the dirt, his instincts scream for him to get up, run, fight, because the horror that had haunted him for so long is coming for him once again—

Then strong, warm arms envelop him, and everything else in the universe seems to stop.

_ I’ve got you. _

Does Keith say it, or is it just Shiro wishing, in his daze, for what he wants to hear?

_ I know. _ Now that, Shiro is sure that he imagines saying. His lips won’t move, the paralysis expanding to the rest of his body, too. So why shouldn’t he allow himself just a little more of his fanciful imagination?

_ I love you. _

Keith goes still, and despite his exhaustion, Shiro takes the chance to reach up and cup his face.

“Always have,” he murmurs, then pulls him down to press a kiss to his lips. It’s just like every other time he’s imagined it, Keith’s lips warm under his—though this time, more chapped than usual.

Keith’s lips freeze, and then he yanks away, eyes wide as he stares at Shiro.

“ _ What? _ ”

A nasty suspicion settles within Shiro, and as he continues to watch Keith, he realizes, heart sinking, that he hadn't imagined the words, the actions. Not a single one.

But he can't fix it. Not now. Not as the fatigue and hurt swell up to claim him, dragging him under into darkness.

—

“Have you been yet?”

Shiro’s head snaps up from the datapad; it takes a few moments for his gaze to focus on Iverson as the focus on his Star Trek backlog vanishes from his mind like bubbles popping. When Iverson looks  _ that _ kind of skeptical, he can’t think of anything else.

“Been where?” Maybe if he plays coy—

“You know damn well where.”

Maybe not.

Shiro swallows, reaching out to delicately set the datapad down on the table, watching it distantly.

“I don’t think I should,” Shiro finally says, voice quiet.

“What in the Sam Hill are you talking about!” Iverson snaps. “That boy is miserable without you.”

Shiro’s eyes slide up to Iverson. “Did he say that?”

“Well, no, but it’s clear as day to—”

“I can’t,” Shiro interrupts, then looks away. “Sorry, sir.”

“Don’t give me that.” Iverson crosses his arms, fixing Shiro with one stern eye. “What happened, Shiro?”

Shiro presses his lips together, looking down again.

“It doesn’t matter.”

Silence rings through the room. Shiro doesn’t look up, running his finger along the edge of the datapad, focusing on the miniscule cracks.

Iverson finally sighs.

“You’re a damn fool, son.”

Shiro’s gaze snaps back up. “I am not!”

Iverson scoffs in the disapproving way that always leaves Shiro cringing inwardly.

“Don’t know what it is about you two that makes you so determined not to be happy.”

Shiro splutters, jaw dropping. “What—”

“Listen, son. With everything you been through, I’d think you’d know by now not to wait and hope for happiness. Never know when it might be too late.”

With a decisive pat on Shiro’s shoulder that leaves him rocking, not bothering to wait for an answer, he turns and leaves.

Shiro can only stare into the distance.

—

Shiro paces in front of the door like an idiot.

He’s been doing a lot of things like an idiot lately, so he supposes this turn of events shouldn’t surprise him. At least this time, he isn’t jeopardizing his recovery, or arguing with superior officers…

Maybe he shouldn’t go in. Maybe that would be the most idiotic thing of all.

As soon as Shiro turns to go, the door swings open with so much force that it smacks into Shiro, sending him sprawling onto the floor.

“Oh, so—Shiro?”

Shiro groans, blinking haplessly up at Krolia and her one raised, confused eyebrow. He winces. “Hi.”

“You’ve come. Finally.” She fixes him with a stern look before walking away, not even bothering to help him up.

Maybe he  _ should _ have visited earlier.

Before he can ruminate on his mistakes any longer, however, he hears an unsteady voice from beyond the doorway.

“Shiro?”

He can’t say no to  _ that. _

Shiro pushes himself up and dusts off his pants. Taking a deep breath, he steps inside.

The hospital room lighting isn’t a good look for Keith, but Shiro finds he doesn’t care. It’s still the same Keith, beautiful despite his pale skin and exhausted face, still with an underlying energy that borders on ferocity.

“Hi,” he manages.

Keith smiles faintly, and a pang of guilt thrusts its way into Shiro’s chest at the pain in Keith’s eyes. He’s  _ such _ an idiot.

“Hi, Shiro,” Keith murmurs. “You came.”

God.  _ God. _ He curses himself a fool a million times over in three languages before he even opens his mouth again.

“I’m sorry.” He thrusts his hands into his pockets and turns to look out the window. “I should have come earlier.”

When Shiro sneaks a look, Keith is looking down at his pale, small hands, fidgeting with his sheets. “It’s okay. I… I get why you didn’t want to.”

Shiro recoils at the very thought. “Wouldn’t want—Keith, why in the world wouldn’t I want to see you?”

“You’re the one who  _ hasn’t _ ,” Keith shoots back, and Shiro winces.

“Well, but—I thought you wouldn’t want to see  _ me. _ ”

Keith bristles, and despite the situation, Shiro’s traitorous heart flip-flops. “And now  _ you’re _ being ridiculous! Why wouldn’t  _ I _ want to see you?”

“Because you pulled away!” Shiro bursts out.

Keith sits back, as if knocked away by Shiro’s vehemence, and stares.

“I know I made you uncomfortable when I kissed you. I’m sorry. I was… exhausted. Delirious. Not in my right mind. I didn’t mean—”

“That’s why I pulled away!”

Shiro blinks, not quite understanding. “You… what?”

One of Keith’s hands clenches in the sheets, the other angrily dashing away tears that Shiro respectfully pretends not to see.

“I can’t… you can’t do that to me, Shiro. It’s not fair.” Keith squeezes his eyes shut. “Not when you don’t mean it.”

The gears whirring in Shiro’s head screech to a grinding halt.

“What?”

Keith takes a few deep breaths, and by the time he’s opened his eyes, he’s managed to compose himself. Shiro wants to step forward, pull Keith into his arms, tell him that he can cry and that everything will be okay, but he’s afraid that if he moves, everything will shatter into pieces.

“It hurts too much,” Keith croaks. “To be teased with… with something I couldn’t ever have.”

A beat as Shiro’s mind spins.

“So,” he finally manages, voice strangled. “If I kissed you and… and  _ meant _ it, that would be okay?”

Keith’s head jerks up, and he stares at Shiro, his eyes wide and disbelieving. The silence lingers long enough to make Shiro very, very nervous.

Then, Keith nods.

There’s so much Shiro wants to say, and even more that he needs to. But all of it just seems to fall by the wayside as violet eyes meet his.

He takes one step forward. Then another. Keith doesn’t lean away, just watches Shiro with the eyes of a starving man.

So Shiro does what he’s been dreaming of for years, once again.

This time, he pulls Keith close, the one holding instead of being held. This time, he keeps his kiss gentle, steady, and firm.

This time, Keith doesn’t pull away.


End file.
